http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
HOW IS A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN like a seduction? Well, in the primary candidates woo voters with
promises of gifts (health care, education, tax breaks). On election day they pop the question and the
voter must answer either "I do'' or "I don't.'' The wedding takes place on Inauguration Day when
the new president promises to love, lead, honor and sometimes obey. That's why the first 100 days
are called the honeymoon.

After that the bridegroom must stand and deliver. No starry-eyed bride ever expects to get all that
she's promised, but the courtship can tell her a lot about what she can expect to live with.

In a recent poll conducted by Frank Lutz, George W. was the man among the candidates who most
men would choose as best man and most women would choose to marry. Al Gore was considered
the "brainiest;'' he was also the winner in another category: men and women who "would rather kill
themselves than be stuck alone with him for a week.''

Of course, George W. wasn't a laugh-a-minute on David Letterman. "But I'm not running for
`comedian-in-chief,' '' he said. "I'm going to be commander-in-chief.'' A good thing, too.

Political campaigners have always made appeals to masculine and feminine images. But just as
"masculine'' and "feminine'' aren't as clearly defined as they used to be, neither are the political
parties. It used to be that Republicans (as late as Ronald Reagan) reveled in belonging to the
masculine party and the Democrats thrived in the feminization of their politics.

The macho award goes easily to Al Gore this time around. His pugilistic transformation gave him a
new identity and distance from Bill Clinton. But macho in the post-modern vernacular smacks of
caricature rather than authenticity. Although the vice president employs more combative verbs, he's
still the guy who hides behind weasel talk about "no controlling legal authority.'' Nor was it so brave
of him to meet Al Sharpton surreptitiously, and at his daughter's Park Avenue apartment, where he
used a grandchild as his beard.

John McCain shows no such ambivalence in his masculinity. After Gov. John Engler of Michigan
complained that the senator had merely "rented'' Democrats to win the Republican primary in
Michigan, Mr. McCain told him to "be a man.'' Only a war hero could exploit such language to
elevate himself.

But what does it mean today to "be a man?'' If we believe with the ancient Greeks that "man is the
measure of all things,'' what exactly is the unit of measure? Does it relate to personal morality or
public conduct? Policy or character? Ideally, all of the above.

We don't live in an ideal world. We mortals can merely listen closely. Republicans who once prided
themselves on thinking with their heads rather than their hearts now have a candidate in George W.
who talks of his heart and of "compassionate conservatism.'' That doesn't necessarily reduce his
masculine appeal. When he campaigns with Elizabeth Dole or Christine Todd Whitman, he
demonstrates how his party cares about women's issues.

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In a fascinating new book called "Campaign Talk: Why Elections are Good for Us,'' Roderick
Hart, a professor at the University of Texas, uses a computer to analyze the language of candidates
to see how their vocabularies work. Specifically, the professor shows how a candidate is -- or is
not -- in touch with his times. Statistical examples of the different vocabularies of Bill Clinton and
Bob Dole in their 1996 acceptance speeches tell him a lot:

Professor Hart concludes: "Bill Clinton ran as an ideological, and rhetorical, New Democrat and
Dole as a near-caricature of the Old Republican.'' Neither Clinton nor Dole referred to
race, class, religion, region or gender and both emphasized their reverence for America,
45 times between them.

Language offers insight but not always illumination. Language can also deceive, which is one reason
why Plato kept poets out of his ideal republic. But you don't have to be a poet to delude or seduce.
Politicians are quite good at it,
too.

03/06/00: The Amphetamine of the People 03/02/00: Elegy for Amadou 02/29/00: With only a million, what's a poor girl to do?02/24/00: The changing politics of change 02/16/00: Tip from Hillary: 'Let 'em eat eggs' 02/10/00: No seances with Eleanor 02/07/00: Campaigning like our founding fathers 02/03/00: When neo-Nazis have short memories 01/31/00: George W. -- 'Ladies man' and 'man's man'01/27/00: Dead white males and live white politicians 01/25/00: Smarting over presidential smarts 01/21/00: A post-modern song for `The Sopranos' 01/19/00: When personality is a long-distance plus 01/13/00: French lessons in amour --- and marriage 01/10/00: Reaching for the Big Golden Apple 01/07/00: Liddy Dole as the face of feminism 01/04/00: Hillary: From victim to victor12/30/99: 'Dream catchers' for the millennium 12/27/99: In search of a candidate with strength and eloquence 12/21/99: The president as First Lady12/16/99: Columbine with blurred hindsight 12/09/99: Homeless deserve discriminating attention12/07/99: Casual censors and deadly know-nothings 12/02/99: Why mom didn't make general: A reality tale 11/30/99: Potholes on the road to the Promised Land 11/25/99: A feast for the spirit and the stomach 11/23/99: Fathers need to say 'I (can) do' 11/18/99: Adventures of a conservative pundit 11/15/99: Traveling with Jefferson on the information highway11/11/99: Wanted: 'Foliage of forbiddinness' for the oval office 11/09/99: Eggs, art and rotten commerce 11/05/99: Al Gore, 'Alpha Male'. Bow wow. 11/01/99: Gay love10/28/99: Lose one Dole, lose two 10/26/99: Rebels with a violent cause 10/21/99: Reforming parents, reforming schools 10/19/99: The male mystique -- he shops10/13/99:The campaign of the Teletubbies10/08/99: Money is in the eye of the art dealer 10/01/99: Lincoln's 'Almost Chosen People' 09/29/99: Introducing Bill and Hillary Bickerson 09/27/99: Must we wait for the next massacre?09/24/99: Miss America meets Miss'd America09/21/99: Princeton's 'professor death'09/16/99: The Cisneros lesson09/13/99: No clemency for personal politics09/08/99: M-M-M is for manhood 08/30/99: Blocking the schoolhouse door 08/27/99: No kick from cocaine08/23/99: Movies don't kill people 08/19/99: A rude awakening 08/16/99: Dubyah and that 'language' thing 08/09/99: Chauvinist sows -- oink oink